"If the motor is running, the blade is turning."

Just a reminder…

No matter how I try to build myself up and improve my thinking habits, I still sometimes forget and resort to my former dark and pessimistic ways. Most irritating of all are those who glibly advise “Just look on the bright side!” That tells me either 1) they’ve never really looked at the true spiritual side of things and are just giving lip service to positive thinking, or 2) they’re on some plane so high above where I am that it really is that simple for them.

One of the most aggravated moments in my journey was when I read a book on happiness by the Dalai Lama. It said that if I wanted to have what I desire then I should desire what I have. O.k.–now I feel tricked! Similarly: If you want to do what you love, just love what you do. I bought a book only to receive useless advice like that!? As my students say “That’s messed up!”

Later, I realized how it works. What you hold in your mind you hold in your hands. If you are all about worry and need, you attract more need and stuff to worry about. If you’re positive (honestly positive) and yielding to the universe, you attract the positive and hopeful. That positive shift in worldview is what moves you into a frame of mind to attract and receive the good in life.

If I truly desire a better life, then I show and talk gratitude for the life I have now. I stop focusing on all the reasons my life is unsatisfactory, and pick out those I can put a positive spin on and think about them. That positive outlook is what allows me to begin to move from attracting more need and dissatisfaction to attracting supply and content. It doesn’t mean that I’m giving up and settling; it means that I am intentionally becoming a magnet for the good.